Troopers say there was no negotiation before Vienna man shot his three-month-old son (video)

Alaina Potrikus / The Post-StandardState police block off Pine Road, at Herder Road, in the Oneida County community of Blossvale, where a man shot a 3-month-old boy this morning in front of state troopers.

Blossvale, NY -- Adam Theall was holding his three-month old son in one hand and a long gun in the other as he stepped out of his parents’ home on Pine Road in the town of Vienna Tuesday morning.

A female at the Oneida County house had called 911 at 9:04 a.m. and told authorities that Theall was threatening to kill the infant if police responded.

When police arrived at the house, there was no negotiation. The 21-year-old shot and killed his son, Eithen Zethrey Theall, born March 22 in Rome.

“As soon as the trooper got out of the car, he did it,” said Capt. Francis Coots at a press conference in Oneida Tuesday afternoon.

The responding officer, Trooper Carlo Gennario, took cover after witnessing the shooting. He was joined shortly after by Trooper Richard Snyder and Sgt. Thomas Haumann, who heads the state police barracks in Sylvan Beach.

Adam Theall

When troopers instructed Theall surrender his weapon, he aimed at them instead. He was shot by the three troopers, with 45-caliber and 12-gauge rounds.

“We did not fire at him immediately after he shot the child,” Coots said. “We wanted to take him into custody. We wanted him to drop the weapon. He refused to do so.”

Eithen Theall was pronounced dead at 10:04 a.m. at Rome Hospital. Adam Theall was transported by helicopter to Upstate University Hospital around noon; he spent much of the day in surgery under police guard and is listed in critical condition.

No arrests have been made, though Theall is likely to face second-degree murder charges. The child’s mother, Jamie Baker, was not at the scene at the time of the shooting. Two other children, including Adam Theall’s 1-year-old child, were at the home, Coots said.

Coots said it was too early in the investigation to know what Theall, who lived in the nearby Pine Haven trailer park, was thinking at the time of the shooting. Theall was on probation, stemming from a 2007 felony assault charge, which would have prevented him from legally owning a firearm.

Troopers had been called to the residence before, and Adam Theall had been the subject of a domestic dispute just four days earlier. Troopers were called on June 18 by his mother, who said he was “taking his anger out on trees,” Coots said.

Coots said the troopers followed protocol in responding to the scene. “They did what they were trained to do,” Coots said. “Their actions were heroic.”